May’s 30 Day Fitness Experiment Recap and Analysis

Posted on June 3, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

I’ve spent the past 9 months doing various 30-day lifestyle experiments which have targeted many different aspects of my life. However, I had yet to do one concerning fitness so I figured it was about time. The month of May was an attempt to do something active and different every day as a means to get out of my comfort zone to try new methods of exercise. As with every other experiment I’ve done so far, aspects of them have crept their way into my life and have become habit (compost bin, talking with strangers on the train, minimalism, eating less meat and more veggies, reading short stories, having sober weekends and not feeling weird about it, etc) and I’m sure that this fitness month will be no exception to that. As with any good experiment it is important to first ask the right kinds of questions. I wanted to find answers to questions like: “Is broomball a legitimate form of exercise?” or “Should I spend my time going to the gym or playing pickup soccer?” or “Do I get a better workout when I do them alone or with friends?” I definitely found some answers to those questions and I’ll recap some of them in this post.

I did a total of 27 different kinds of workouts this month, it was pretty tough logistically but with a little bit of organization and a whole lot of supportive friends I managed to do it. The only repeat workouts were running during Ragnar and hiking during my Hawaii trip. In sum, I ended up doing 31 total bouts of exercise, some more intense than others but at the end of the day I accomplished my goal of getting out of my comfort zone and trying out new exercises. For a full list of the workouts I did, scroll to the bottom of this post.

At the beginning of the month I bought a heart rate monitor because as an engineer, I had to find a way to measure my experiment. How do my new workouts compare to my habitual workouts and how do all of those relate to my overall fitness level? Here’s a chart for min/max/average heart rates for each exercise I did this month. I managed to either forget or mess up my heart rate data for only 3 of my workouts, so they’re omitted from this chart, showing 28 out of the 31 workouts I did this month:

Having the heart rates recorded is one thing, but what’s more important is to put these into context of your training zones which differ from person to person depending primarily on age and resting heart rate (54bpm for me): Fat Burning Zone (125-160bpm), Aerobic Zone (160-174), Anaerobic Threshold Zone (174-181), and Anaerobic Zone (181-195). I won’t go through how I calculated the zones because it’s pretty well-established and you can find the equations online anywhere. HERE are the equations I used. Here’s the chart with the zones overlaid on my heart rate data:

In terms of Average Heart Rate, I did not have any exercises that were in my Anaerobic Threshold Zone nor in my Anaerobic Zone. Most of my workouts landed me in the Fat Burning Zone:

Fat Burning Zone: Broomball, Harvard Stadium, Soccer, Lead Climbing, Plyometrics, Ragnar 1/2/3, Insanity, Boxing, Road Biking, Dragon Boat, Austere Fitness, Rollerblading, Spartan Race WOD, and Swimming.
Exercises that didn’t make the Fat Burning cut for Average Heart Rate: Bouldering, Rowing, P90X Shoulders/Arms, Apartment Moving, TRX Suspension Training, Outrigger Canoeing, Hiking 1/2/3, Yoga, Resistance Bands, Fitness Park.

The caveat here is that I only measured heart rate. I indeed burned fat while hiking 22 miles over 3 days in Hawaii, it’s just that my heart rate didn’t bring me into that zone. A proper measurement would include EMG for measuring muscle activity and VO2 for measuring oxygen consumption, but I’ll never have such advanced equipment so heart rate is all I have to work with. The moral of the story here for me is that for the exercises that didn’t make the fat burning cut, I likely wasn’t pushing myself hard enough (low intensity level) or consistently enough (too many breaks). The other lesson is that I was burning fat doing a variety of different things; from rollerblading to boxing to throwing rocks, I was helping make my body leaner and healthier, all without having to join a gym, spend any money, or use any weights/gym machines.

In terms of my Maximum Heart Rate, I had a few surprising findings:

Anaerobic Zone: Broomball was the only exercise that brought me to an anaerobic level of working out, who knew? I knew I was working really hard and super out of breath but I had no idea I was playing at such a high intensity level. Thank you Social Boston Sports for introducing me to Broomball (league champs 2 years in a row!)
Anaerobic Threshold Zone: Pickup Soccer and my 3rd Ragnar leg. Both of these workout were done with friends, were competitive with other people, and were among the most fun I had while exercising.
Aerobic Zone: Harvard Stadium Run, Plyometrics, Ragnar 1/2, Boxing, Spartan Race WOD, Austere Fitness, and Road Biking.
Fat Burning Zone: Rowing, Bouldering, Lead Climbing, P90X Shoulders/Arms, Apartment Moving, Insanity, Dragon Boat Racing, Outrigger Canoe Paddling, Hiking 1/2/3, Power Yoga, Rollerblading, Swimming, and the Fitness Park.

In all of my workouts this month, I at least reached the point somewhere in the workout where I was burning fat, it just might not have been burning fat the entire time as the average heart rate would indicate.

As for my initial questions starting this month, I found that Broomball is not only a legitimate form of exercise, it’s a fantastic form of exercise which could help push the limits of my anaerobic conditioning. I also found that I didn’t need to go to a gym or lift weights, I’m better of running around outside playing pickup soccer. Lasty, I did 15 of my workouts (roughly half) with friends, these were also the ones where I pushed myself the hardest (anaerobic threshold and anaerobic zones).

Would I do another 30day fitness experiment? Definitely. I had a blast, I feel great, and I have plenty of ideas for other types of exercise. There were about a dozen other exercises that I couldn’t quite do just because of logistics, time, and access to gear, some of them are: ultimate frisbee, mountain biking, break dancing, capoeira, various martial arts, kick boxing, spinning, kayaking, canoeing, and others.

Here’s the list of the exercises I did this month, feel free to check them out by clicking on the links:

Pickup Broomball in Somerville (thanks to Michelle for enlightening me to glory that is pickup broomball)
Harvard Stadium Run (thanks to Dan for always being willing to crush it)
Rowing in the Gym (thanks to no one because erging sucks)
Bouldering Pyramid Workout at Metrorock (boulder sesh with Tony)
Pickup Soccer at Tufts University (thanks Dan, Lauren, and Katie for inviting me)
Lead Rock Climbing at Farley Ledge (thanks to Tom)
P90X Shoulders, Biceps, and Triceps
12 Minute Tabata Abdominal Intervals (thanks Julia for sending this my way, sorry we couldn’t get any spinning classes in)
P90X Plyometrics in my Living Room (sorry neighbors below me)
Moving Apartments as a Workout (you’re welcome Sarah :)
Ragnar Relay Race Cape Cod (thanks Katie for organizing it and thanks team for being awesome, 6th place out of over 300 teams!)
Active Recovery Day
Boxing at the Ring Boxing Club (thanks Dan and JLo for joining me)
TRX Suspension Training (thanks Shane for providing the gear and walking me through a workout)
Insanity – Core Cardio and Balance (thanks Karen for letting me borrow the DVDs)
Road Biking
Dragon Boat Racing (thanks Julia for sending this my way, thanks Dave the team’s coach for letting me try it out)
Outrigger Canoe Paddling on Oahu (thanks to Sarah and the Lanikai Canoe Club)
Hiking the Kalalau Trail in Kauai (thanks to Sarah and her expert logistics)
Power Yoga on Kalalau Beach in Kauai Featured as the Adventure Photo of the Day on LetsbeWild.com
Fitness in Austere Environments (Kauai) (thanks Trevor for being a berzerk viking and designing these workouts)
Rollerblading on the Charles River Bike Path
Swimming at Tufts University (thanks Ashley)
Resistance Bands (thanks Graham)
Elliptical – didn’t even write about it b/c it was so lame, recap: awkward/unnatural motion and couldn’t raise my heart rate higher than 140 no matter how high the resistance and how hard I pushed.
Spartan Race Workout of the Day (WOD) (thanks Andy and Joe from Peak and Spartan Races)
Fitness Park Workout (thanks Boston)

Swimming at Tufts University

Posted on May 31, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

Me and swimming are not friends. Since a very young age I’ve been a terrible swimmer. When I was a little kid (7 or 8) they wouldn’t pass me to the next level in swim lessons because I couldn’t float on my back. I could take a full breath of air and sink right to the bottom. Even when I used the kickboards I would actually go backwards. So I very quickly gave up swimming in favor of other sports that focused on hand-eye coordination instead of buoyancy. Suffice it to say I didn’t spend a whole lot of time swimming as a kid, I blame it on the fact that most of the water I came into contact with was actually frozen, either in an ice hockey rink or a harsh Maine winter which seems to last most of the year.

Last summer I decided to face my fear of swimming by signing up for a sprint triathlon and giving myself 3 months to train. Then bike and run would be a piece of cake but the swimming was something I had to work really hard at. I find it very hard to relax in the water, especially while exercising; I tense up, start breathing really heavily and my heart rate jumps to 180 only after a few minutes. I got to the point in the pool where I could swim the 1/3 of a mile required for the race but I hadn’t factored in the element of other people and the ocean (yeah the ocean for my first tri wasn’t a good idea). I was getting kicked in the head, sucking down water, my heart jumping into my throat, and I’m really surprised I didn’t actually drown, I think without the wetsuit I would have. Even with my wetsuit, Sarah cut my time almost in half. I only caught up to her on the bike because her bike mostly fell apart. When I got done the race someone asked me how it went, I said, “It was great! Except for that swimming part, if I never do that again I’ll be happy.”

Swimming is something that I need to make a really conscious effort to get better at. I tend to be pretty good at a lot of sports and I pick things up really quickly but swimming is definitely my kryptonite and I need to face it. So I figured this month’s fitness experiment would be a great segue into this summer’s “learn to swim” adventure. I headed to the Tufts Pool after work to see if I was truly as bad as this time last year. Last year I could only swim two lengths of the 25m pool before needing to stop. Today I could do more than four which is an improvement but still pretty sad.

I don’t know much about swimming as an exercise but I did several 4-length swims (100m) followed by short breaks. This lasted for about 15 minutes. I measured my heart rate a few times and found that it landed between 140-150bpm each time. This was a big improvement from last year when I was doing half the distance with heart rates between 170-180bpm Then I decided that I would swim continuously for as long as I could, only I didn’t need to be doing freestyle the whole time, I just needed to be moving and get out of the habit of hanging onto the ends of the pool (i.e. do I stop because I’m tired or do I stop because I’m used to the safety net of the pool’s edge?). I did 2 lengths of freestyle followed by 1 length of backstroke or side stroke followed by another 2 lengths of freestyle and repeated it for 13 minutes. This allowed me to recover aerobically, knowing that after 2 lengths I’d be able to get my face out of the water and breath calmly was a huge help. Simply staying moving in the water for more than 10 minutes without drowning was a confidence booster for me. Baby steps for sure but I’m determined to become a good swimmer so I’m going to keep working at it.

Me and Swimming are not friends, although I'm determined to become a good swimmer, it will just take a lot of concentrated effort for me to be confident in the water.

2-6-12: Underwater Battle and Megatron

Posted on February 8, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

I was climbing over a lake with Sarah and we were bivying about 100 feet up on the wall in a hammock. The scene was one of apocalypse (or something similar) and we were climbing to get away from it all, “Who would look for us on the cliffs?”. As night settled in I started to realize that the cliff above us was actually made of large boulders that were unattached to each other. The situation got more and more precarious so I told her to jump into the lake. I felt fine about her jumping the 100 feet and then making it to shore because conveniently, Megatron the Transformer was in the water to guide her. Once she was swimming away safely, I climbed to the side and dislodged all of the boulders to try and make it safer for climbers in the future.

After letting the rocks loose I jumped into the water. I knew Sarah was safe but I had some unfinished business to take care of with the bad guys who were causing all the chaos with this apocalyptic scene. Another one of the Transformers was in the water only it was an MBTA bus and it used its headlights to show me where to go in the dark. Once we got to the right spot in the lake, the bus Transformer shook his head and I dove down into the water.

I swam down the bottom (somehow able to breath under water) and there was a dance floor full of people partying as if it were a secret club. It reminded me a lot of the movie Blade or the show True Blood, a different breed of humans partying somewhere in a club hosted by the villain. The DJ stopped when they saw that I was down there. Most of them knew me and were surprised to see that I also had these powers to stand on the lake’s bottom and breath. So the bad guy said, “So you’re one of us now?”. One of his henchmen added, “Diamond status eh?” (not sure what that was supposed to mean). I just kind of stood there and it was clear that we were still enemies and that we were about to battle. The crowd on the dance floor parted and the bad guy approached me.

That’s where my dream ended. It was much like the final scene between Neo and Smith in the last Matrix movie where it was raining and all of the Smiths were standing around watching. Too bad it had to end at 6:30am with my alarm, bummer.